US-Pakistan Relations Strained by Killing of Pakistani Troops in US Air Strikes
An IPS News headline states the obvious: "Soldiers' Killings Likely to Raise Tensions."
"The killings Tuesday night by U.S. warplanes of 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers at or near a checkpoint along the Afghan border is virtually certain to add to growing tensions between Washington and Islamabad at a critical moment in relations between both countries.
"While the precise circumstances of the incident remain unclear, reports from Pakistan that the soldiers were fighting alongside Taliban forces against Afghan Army and U.S. units in the border area will tend to bolster critics of U.S. policy who argue that the Pakistani military is playing a "double game" and can no longer be trusted.
"While the Pentagon did not comment directly on those reports Wednesday, its description of what took place suggested that the soldiers -- all members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps -- were legitimate targets when they were killed.
"...the Pakistani military released a statement calling the air strikes "unprovoked and cowardly." It added that "the incident had hit at the very basis of co-operation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the Coalition in (the) war against terror."
"While expressing regret about the incident and conveying condolences to the dead soldiers' families, the U.S. embassy did not apologise. "The United States regrets that the actions in Mohmand Agency resulted in casualties among Pakistani forces, who are our partners in the fight against terrorism," it said in a statement issued after her visit to the ministry.
"Washington is most concerned about the possibility that the new government will negotiate agreements with Taliban leaders in FATA that will result in the withdrawal of the Pakistani army from the area in return for the leaders' pledges to expel foreign fighters and prevent militants from crossing the border into Afghanistan.
"With anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan already running high due to Washington's long-standing support for Musharraf and its controversial cross-border strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda targets, analysts here fear the incident will be used by the army to distance itself further from U.S. strategy -- as suggested by the army's own statement -- and make it more difficult for the new government to be seen as co-operating with Washington."
Yesterday I wrote in a posting about Afghanistan: "A review of the Ahmed Rashid's book, "Descent Into Chaos" says: "The strong narrative theme is that the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan — each led by a stubborn man trapped in his own bubble — have strategized with little regard for each other in pursuit of incongruous goals....
"And so, for seven years, these nations, ostensibly friendly, have double-crossed each other and sent conflicting messages. Meanwhile, the Taliban, which regrouped in Pakistan just over the border from Afghanistan, has regained power as the U.S. loses interest.
"In return, Pakistan allowed the U.S. to use its ports to disembark military goods, a vital logistics advantage in 2001. And, when really pushed, Musharraf has used his military against the Islamicist guerrillas operating within Pakistan. This has always led to disaster. Time after time, the military has been either defeated or stymied by the guerrillas. The reason, Rashid suggests, is rooted in the secret part of Musharraf's strategy: Far from cutting links with the Taliban and al Qaeda's guerilla allies, the ISI has supplied them with intelligence and money.
"Why didn't this cause an uproar in D.C.? There are two important reasons. First, Musharraf carefully cultivated Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who believed that the general was standing between order and chaos in nuclear-powered Pakistan. Second, Rumsfeld, who took responsibility for Afghanistan away from the State Department, was averse to nation building. For him, it was better to say the war was over than that it had barely begun."
And the US is stubbornly sticking by their man in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.
The failed policy towards Pakistan is due in large part to this Bush administration whose ignorance, arrogance, myopia, and delusion were the foundation for its complete ineptitude in its terribly flawed foreign policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan which has caused inestimable damage to the US.
"The killings Tuesday night by U.S. warplanes of 11 Pakistani paramilitary soldiers at or near a checkpoint along the Afghan border is virtually certain to add to growing tensions between Washington and Islamabad at a critical moment in relations between both countries.
"While the precise circumstances of the incident remain unclear, reports from Pakistan that the soldiers were fighting alongside Taliban forces against Afghan Army and U.S. units in the border area will tend to bolster critics of U.S. policy who argue that the Pakistani military is playing a "double game" and can no longer be trusted.
"While the Pentagon did not comment directly on those reports Wednesday, its description of what took place suggested that the soldiers -- all members of Pakistan's Frontier Corps -- were legitimate targets when they were killed.
"...the Pakistani military released a statement calling the air strikes "unprovoked and cowardly." It added that "the incident had hit at the very basis of co-operation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the Coalition in (the) war against terror."
"While expressing regret about the incident and conveying condolences to the dead soldiers' families, the U.S. embassy did not apologise. "The United States regrets that the actions in Mohmand Agency resulted in casualties among Pakistani forces, who are our partners in the fight against terrorism," it said in a statement issued after her visit to the ministry.
"Washington is most concerned about the possibility that the new government will negotiate agreements with Taliban leaders in FATA that will result in the withdrawal of the Pakistani army from the area in return for the leaders' pledges to expel foreign fighters and prevent militants from crossing the border into Afghanistan.
"With anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan already running high due to Washington's long-standing support for Musharraf and its controversial cross-border strikes against Taliban and al Qaeda targets, analysts here fear the incident will be used by the army to distance itself further from U.S. strategy -- as suggested by the army's own statement -- and make it more difficult for the new government to be seen as co-operating with Washington."
Yesterday I wrote in a posting about Afghanistan: "A review of the Ahmed Rashid's book, "Descent Into Chaos" says: "The strong narrative theme is that the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan — each led by a stubborn man trapped in his own bubble — have strategized with little regard for each other in pursuit of incongruous goals....
"And so, for seven years, these nations, ostensibly friendly, have double-crossed each other and sent conflicting messages. Meanwhile, the Taliban, which regrouped in Pakistan just over the border from Afghanistan, has regained power as the U.S. loses interest.
"In return, Pakistan allowed the U.S. to use its ports to disembark military goods, a vital logistics advantage in 2001. And, when really pushed, Musharraf has used his military against the Islamicist guerrillas operating within Pakistan. This has always led to disaster. Time after time, the military has been either defeated or stymied by the guerrillas. The reason, Rashid suggests, is rooted in the secret part of Musharraf's strategy: Far from cutting links with the Taliban and al Qaeda's guerilla allies, the ISI has supplied them with intelligence and money.
"Why didn't this cause an uproar in D.C.? There are two important reasons. First, Musharraf carefully cultivated Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who believed that the general was standing between order and chaos in nuclear-powered Pakistan. Second, Rumsfeld, who took responsibility for Afghanistan away from the State Department, was averse to nation building. For him, it was better to say the war was over than that it had barely begun."
And the US is stubbornly sticking by their man in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.
The failed policy towards Pakistan is due in large part to this Bush administration whose ignorance, arrogance, myopia, and delusion were the foundation for its complete ineptitude in its terribly flawed foreign policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan which has caused inestimable damage to the US.
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